Over the past decade and a half thousands of
people with Type 2 diabetes have dramatically lowered their blood
sugar using this very simple technique which was first published on
the alt.support.diabetes newsgroup. Unlike most other strategies you
may have encountered, this one does not tell you what to eat. Instead
it teaches you how the meals you are currently eating affect your
blood sugar and then guides you through the process of adapting those
meals so that they will be more blood sugar friendly. Try it for a
week and you'll see how well it works.

Step 1: Eat whatever you've been eating and write
it all down

Eat normally, but use your blood sugar meter to
test yourself at the following times. Write down what you ate and
what your blood sugar results were:Upon waking (fasting)
1 hour after
each meal
2 hours after each meal

Note:
People often ask where to start measuring the hour after eating. For
most people measuring from the end of the meal works well. If you
take more than 45 minutes to eat your meal, measure from when you eat
the course that contains the most starch and sugar.
What
this will tell you is when your blood sugar is at its highest after
your meal and how long it takes to drop back down. Most people also
will see that all starches and sugars, even the ones that
nutritionists tell us are "healthy" like whole grains and
fruits can raise our blood sugars dramatically compared to fats and
proteins.

Step 2: For the next few days cut back on your
carbohydrates

Cut back on breads, cereals, rice, beans, any
wheat products, potato, corn, and fruit. If you are eating
gluten-free foods, stop eating anything designed to replace
wheat-based foods, too. Get most of your carbohydrates from veggies.
Test your modified meals using the same schedule above. See what
impact you can make on your blood sugar by eliminating various high
carbohydrate foods.
Be aware that some foods, like pasta digest
slowly, so you won't see a blood sugar spike one hour after eating or
even, at times, two. But if you test pasta at four or five hours
after eating, you may see a spike. The same is true of foods that
contain the sweeteners used in "sugar free" foods sold as
being good for diabetic diets.
These often will produce a significant blood sugar
spike an hour or two later than when you'd see the spike from regular
sugar. If a food seems too good to be true, test another hour or two
later.
The closer we get to non-diabetic readings, the
greater chance we have of avoiding horrible complications.

Here are what doctors currently believe to be
non-diabetic readings:
Fasting blood sugar: under 100
mg/dl (5.5 mmol/L)
One hour after meals under 140 mg/dl
(7.8 mmol/L
Two hours after meals under 120 mg/dl (6.6
mmol/L)

If you can do better than this, go for it. At a
minimum, The American College of Clinical Endocrinologists recommends
that people with diabetes keep their blood sugars under 140 mg/dl
(7.8 mmol/L) two hours after eating.

When you achieve normal blood sugar targets, you
can start cautiously adding back carbohydrates, making sure to test
after each meal. Stop adding carbohydrates as soon as you get near
your blood sugar targets.
Recent studies have indicated that your "after
meal" numbers are those most indicative of future complications,
especially heart problems.

Step 3: Test Test Test!

Remember, we're not in a race or a competition
with anyone but ourselves. Play around with your food plan. Test,
test, test! Learn what foods cause blood sugar spikes and what foods
cause cravings. Learn which foods give you healthy blood sugars.
No matter what anyone tells you, if a food raises
your blood sugar over the targets you are aiming for, that food
should not be part of your diabetes food plan. Your blood sugar meter
will tell you what the best "diabetes diet" is for your
body. Use it and regain your health!

Need Help Deciding What to Eat

An Affordable Continuous Glucose Monitor Is
Better than Test Strips

A new device, the FreeStyle Libre Flash Glucose
Monitor, came on the market at the end of 2017. It is not covered by
insurance for anyone save people using meal-time insulin. However,
the reader costs only about $80 and a sensor that lasts 10-14 days is
about $33 self-paid. You will need a doctor's prescription to get the
reader and sensors, but many doctors will prescribe one if you assure
them you won't bother them about getting insurance to pay for the
device.
The cost of the device and a month's worth of
strips is not much more than what you would pay for a brand name
blood sugar meter and 200 strips. The continuous glucose monitor will
give you far, far, more information and make it much easier to learn
how to get normal blood sugars.

I wrote up a detailed description my trial of the
first version of this device HERE.
If you are interested, there are several closed groups on Facebook
where advice is available from many long-time users from outside of
the U.S., where the device has been available for years.

Our Full-Length Books Give Many More Tips

Blood
Sugar 101: What They Don't Tell You About Diabetess a
240-page book that goes into far more detail than any web page can
about why blood sugar deteriorates, what blood sugar levels cause
complications, and how to lower your blood sugar safely with both
diet and safe drugs. It also gives strategies for lowering blood
sugar safely using diet for people taking insulin or an insulin
stimulating drug. You'll find extensive sections on how to stick to a
diet that lowers blood sugar for years, not months, and a lot of
information about the foods and supplements that will be most helpful
to people who are trying to lower their blood sugar.

Blood Sugar 101:
What They Don't Tell You About Diabetes also examines what
peer-reviewed research has found about alternative ways of lowering
blood sugar with diet and commonly prescribed drugs.

NOTE: This advice is an edited, updated version of
the excellent advice written by a person named Jennifer that she
posted for many years on the alt.support.diabetes newsgroup. It has
helped thousands of people bring their blood sugars down to the level
that gives an A1c test result in the 5% range. Note: The Jennifer who
wrote the advice is not the Jenny Ruhl who maintains these pages.

Pages

SearchThis Blog and Bloodsugar101.com

This is the blog for Blood Sugar 101.

Visit the mainBlood Sugar 101 Web Site to learn more about how blood sugar works, what blood sugar levels cause organ damage, what blood sugar levels are safe and how to achieve those safe blood sugar levels.

Stalled on Your Diet?

I was diagnosed with diabetes in 1998. Since then I've kept my A1cs in the 5.0-6.0% range using the techniques you'll find explained at The main Blood Sugar 101 Web Site, where you'll also find extensive discussion of the peer-reviewed research that backs up the statements you read here.

I've also published two books on related subjects, Blood Sugar 101: What They Don't Tell You About Diabetes, which was an Amazon Diabetes bestseller for 3 years and Diet 101: The Truth About Low Carb Diets.